Chris was born in 1932 as the tenth child of a Dublin bricklayer. The family later consisted of 22 children, 4 already died in infancy. His was a difficult birth. After four month his mother realised that there was something wrong with him, six month later they went to a doctor. He told Mrs. Brown that her son suffered form cerebral palsy, he could not control his speech and body, apart from his left foot. Everybody meant that there is no hope to getting normal for Chris. In the beginning it was only his mother who didn't give him up, the other people thought that his mind was also crippled as his body. But Christy could never show her that he understood everything. One day he saw his sister with a chalk. He instinctively used his left foot to take it and began to scribble on the floor. His relatives were very excited and his mum stood up, wrote the letter A on the floor and told him to copy it. After a few trials he managed to do so; this was the start of his ability to communicate.
Soon he learned to put different letters together for little words, then he could do sentences, too. He developed an own language which the family could mostly understand; the other words were written down on the floor. A doctor came to look for his brother when Christy attracted his attention. He was very enthusiastic and began to visit him regularly.
Chris now often went with his brothers and their friends, they pushed him along in a go-car that they called his chariot. Tony, one of his bigger brothers, was his hero and Chris also wanted to show that to him. One day Tony got arrested and Chris stole the key of the bedroom, where he was locked in, out of his mums pocket. Then he crawled there and gave the key under the door to his brother.
The friends made many outings with Chris, one day they were even stealing some fruits. They were also swimming with him. One day the axle of his go-car broke; that was the first time they left Chris alone and went out without him.
Chris couldn't reason his difference until he was ten; then he realised that he was a cripple. That changed his life, he began to hide himself when strangers came. Now he became an invalid chair and could go with the others again. But it wasn't like in former times, so he wanted to stay home all the time. Painting helped him to forget his depressions. Mother got ill after her last birth and sent a student girl, Katriona Delahunt, to pick up a note from Christy. She started to come more often and Christy fell in love with her. His mum got well soon.
Mrs. Delahunt made Chris feel important and useful. He painted his pictures for her with great enthusiasm and got better and better. A few weeks before Christmas he won a painting competition of a newspaper and was shown in it.
He fell in love again; with Jenny, a nice girl in the neighbourhood. One day he met her in the backyard and received a kiss later. He didn't see her a few weeks from now on, but when he did she gave him just a look of pity that hit him where it really hurt. Time went by and everyone was growing up, also Christy did, he wasn't a child anymore. Also painting did not satisfy him as much as in former, so he began to write stories when he was 17: Wild West, 'boy-meets-girl' and detective thrillers that were quite brutal. His oldest brother and sister were already married, now also Mrs. Delahunt; she got Mrs. Maguier.
One day Chris made a trip to Lourdes, France, where many handicapped people met and prayed together to become well soon. There he saw the first time that there are many people worse afflicted than he was, but when he returned home, life made his usual way again.
Now a doctor came to his house, who heard of Christy and told him that he found a method to cure his illness, cerebral palsy. The only room available for some necessary exercises was the kitchen, but it was too small. So mother could convince her bricklayer-sons to build up a little house in the garden. They did and Christy moved in soon, away from the daily stress in the house. Dr. Collins told Chris now of her sister-in-law, Dr. Eirene Collins, who lives in London and is a well-known specialist in cerebral palsy. So Chris and his mother flow to London, Middlesex Hospital, where he was told that his only chance of being cured is never to use his left foot again. On one hand it is good for him mentally, but on the other hand it was making worse the condition of his already crippled muscles.
The two soon flow back again and heard, that Dr. Warnants managed to open a cerebral palsy clinic. There Christy had to make his practice regularly with many small children. He met also a girl, Sheila, and began to wrote letters to her and reverse.
Now the idea of writing his autobiography came into his mind. He dictated his younger brother the story of his life. It was written in a very old style, because Christy's only model was the writer Dickens. After the manuscript consisted of 400 pages, he realised that no one would read such an exact and old-fashioned text. He sent his intention on a postcard to Dr. Robert Collins, who he hadn't seen for a year but really came a few days later to explain him how to do it and that he had to develop an own style.
Chris had to go to another Clinic that was newer and bigger, they had three huge rooms. He makes progresses pretty soon and was then able to use his hands a little and to speak more clearly. The women who formed the staff gave the patients not only their treatment, but also love and understanding that is very important to them; the Clinic was for them a spirit of pride, not pity.
Robert Collins taught him many things in a short time, so Chris was rather confused in the beginning. He made a new start with his life-story, but Dr. Collins didn't like it; there were too many clichés in it. So he began to dictate another brother the third version of his autobiography, that was much better. Collins also organised a private teacher for the now twenty year-old, it was Mr. Guthrie. He was taught in maths and Latin, which he liked very much and started to read Caesar soon. Additionally to Dickens, he began to read Shakespeare and Shaw. But in spite his life didn't satisfy him. He wanted to go dancing, climbing, meeting girls,. In his frustration he kicked off his left shoe, put a pencil between his toes and began to write. Suddenly the doctor came in, but instead of scolding him, he just told him to use his left foot not so often and only if it was really necessary.
Soon a really big day came for Christy. Dr. Collins could convince the Irish folk singer Burl Ives to give a charity concert for people suffering from cerebral palsy. There Robert Collins read the first chapters of Christy's book (The letter 'A' and M-O-T-H-E-R) to give the people an idea of the inner feelings of such afflicted human beings. There was a stage where Chris and his parents were sitting while the story was read. After that red roses were given to his mother and Burl Ives began to sing funny song while the old left foot beat to the rhythm of the tune.
Later Christy Brown wrote the autobiographical novel 'Down all the days', which was very successful. He wrote also other novels and published his poems. He died in 1981.
